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Rolling, rock-covered hills add to the southwest feel of Eric Bodin’s freelanced HO scale Echo Canyon & Santa Fe. Eric shares how he made the scenery base for his hills using extruded-foam insulation board and weed-blocking fabric. modeling hills A fresh take on Combine extruded-foam insulation board and weed block fabric to model rolling terrain By Eric Bodin • Photos by the author There are many techniques for modeling rolling hills on model railroads. Popular methods include a cardboard web covered with plaster-impregnated gauze strips, layered and shaped pieces of extrudedfoam insulation board, and packing peanuts covered with masking tape and plaster gauze, among others. These methods have served the hobby well over the years. I’ve used some of these approaches in the past. But when it came time to build hills on my HO scale model railroad, I asked myself if there was a better way. Then an idea popped into my head: Cover an extruded-foam insulation board frame with weed-blocking fabric. To see if the idea would work, I made a trip to my local home improve- ment center to get the supplies. The key ingredients are a 4 x 8-foot sheet of extruded-foam insulation board (I used a 3 ⁄4 ness will work), a roll of weed block, and foam-safe adhesive. I’m happy to report the technique worked. I even learned that weed block works well for filling gaps between existing scenery and new benchwork. Follow along as I show you how to model rolling hills starting with extruded-foam insulation board and weed block. Eric Bodin lives in Bridge City, Texas, with his wife, Karen. They have two children, Rikki and Ty, both attending college. Eric is a process operator for Total Petrochemicals. February 2018 63 "-thick sheet, but any thick